Posts Tagged ‘Home Ministry’

Come on, we are not dealing with school kids. Businessmen are adults who are fully aware of right and wrong. They are not mentally incapacitated or threatened to hire illegal workers. Be it high class nasi kandar shops or the stall in chinese food court, from office to homes, you can find foreigners from maid to cashier in quite a number of them. We are the ones hiring foreign workers (legal or illegal), and then cry foul when a robbery or murder happens. We are the one who blame everyone else when social problems increase.

We should make this a quarterly exercise so that can reduce number of illegals in the country. Government must proceed with the crackdown as soon as possible. This will force businesses to hire locals or legal foreign workers, most likely at a much higher cost. This in turn, will contribute towards higher food cost for the consumers. And that, will reflect more correctly on our cost of living. Then we will know the price of security and employment for locals.

The Government will meet representatives from the Chinese chambers of commerce and guilds this week before deciding whether to proceed with a planned crackdown on illegals.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said he had already met with nasi kandar operators on the issue last week.

“I will be meeting the Chinese chambers and guilds next and will decide after that,” he told The Star yesterday.

However, asked if thousands of employers “guilty of hiring illegals” would be given a reprieve from action against them under the crackdown scheduled for Feb 15, the minister was tight-lipped. “Wait for my announcement.”

Sources said the meeting was scheduled to be held on Friday at the minister’s office here.

Last month, the Immigration Department announced that it would commence a nationwide crackdown on thousands of employers, believed to be harbouring or employing illegal workers.

The operation will be carried out with the help of police and Rela.

Currently, there are about 1.8 million legal foreign workers in the country and the department believes there are at least an equal number of illegals.

There have been requests for the crackdown to be postponed as it was scheduled to start on the second day of Chinese New Year, where businesses would be brisk with huge profits to be made.

Last week, Hishammuddin promised to be lenient on employers who hired illegals if they could assure authorities that they were “getting their act together.”

He said, since the deadline for the crackdown was announced, many employers had come forward and admitted to hiring illegal workers.

Going by the sound of it, Malaysia is going to have a serious crisis. The numbers aren’t good. Parents are at a loss. Disciplinary teachers are going to have their hands full. How many people can afford to go for standard haircut at RM25?

So, whose fault is it?

Let’s look at the problem first – barbers are saying there’s manpower shortage and due to that many barber shops may have to close down soon. The request to import barbers from India have been rejected by Home Ministry. I remember that there were plans to build our own human capacity in this industry. So what happened? Some colleges offered hairstyling programmes, but I guess the graduates wanted to work on their own rather than being employed under someone. And, in a way its good that people run their own business. Many barber shops owners actually employ foreign workers while themselves are into other business. So, those that depend on foreign workers will have either take up the jobs themselves or find other business to invest in. This may see the increase of prices and possibly the demise of Indian barber shops in certain areas. The standard price for a normal hair cut is RM9. This may rise as more “graduates’ appear and provide “professional” services.

Another solution for parents/Regular Joe, buy the hair cutter/clipper and DIY at home. Save money and no need to worry about hair style. Just crew cut and repeat every two months!

Back to whose fault – I guess its the barbers and authorities. No proper planning or did not anticipate such an outcome.

RM1000 + meals + accommodation sounds a good deal for beginners. After 5 years of hair-cutting, what’s the prospect and career path like?

The shortage of traditional barbers in the country has worsened and may force many barber shops to close within the next six months.

The Penang Indian Hairstylists’ Association says there is a shortage of 2,000 barbers.

Committee member K. Selva Kumaren said 50 barber shops had ceased operations in Penang in the past three or four months due to the shortage.

Selva Kumaren was talking to reporters at a press conference here yesterday.

He said applications to bring in traditional barbers from India were rejected by the Home Ministry.

Selva Kumaren added that local operators had to depend on barbers from India because Malaysians were more keen to operate their own hair salons rather than work for someone. He said a barber is permitted to work here for five years.

Association member M. Bani said employers were willing to pay locally-trained barbers between RM800 to RM1,000 pus meal allowances and accommodation while barbers from India were paid a maximum of RM800.

Those responsible for bringing the head of a cow during the Aug 28 protest at the Selangor state secretariat building should be charged in court, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

He ordered the police to proceed with further investigation and take stern action against those responsible.

“The police have identified the individuals involved,” he said in a statement Thursday.

… Although the residents were angry with the state government and had no intention of hurting the feeling of any other race, Hishammuddin said such action could not be tolerated.

“The Home Ministry view seriously all issues that could undermine the harmony, unity, national security and stability of this multiracial country,’’ he said.

Not sure why there’s a change of tone. Probably the earlier message was not clear enough or sounded biased.

Worse still, there are contradictions to his earlier statements as well (regarding his claim that there are Hindu residents who are opposing the relocation):

Meanwhile, Section 23 Hindu committee pro-tem president K Rajah has also rejected Hishammuddin’s statement yesterday that some Hindu residents were against the proposed temple plan.

“We have collected over a hundred signatures in a petition to support the temple being relocated here and not one is against the idea,” he said.

He also claimed that neither his committee nor any Indian resident was consulted by the Section 23 action committee led by Mahyuddin.

I’m not sure if the other papers will carry the rebuttal by the Hindu resident (I think K.Raju and K.Rajah are the same person). Let’s see who is telling the truth.

The above article also gave an interesting piece of news (not sure how to verify it):

While the state government is hosting a dialogue session with all residents this Saturday, the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government is also considering holding an event to bring both Muslims and Hindus together to defuse racial tension.

The plan, which entailed roping in the assistance of Hindu Sangam, was proposed to the Cabinet by Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Noh Omar, who is also the Umno state deputy liaison chief.

According to sources, the Cabinet is also considering offering an alternative site to relocate the Hindu temple despite the fact that such matters fall under the jurisdiction of the state government.

The Malaysian Insider understands that Noh was forced to defend himself at the Cabinet meeting yesterday. He told the meeting that he did not instigate the Malay-Muslims of Section 23 to protest against the temple relocation.

He is understood to have also told the Cabinet that he would organise a sit-down with Hindus and Muslims in the neighbourhood.

We can see it coming now. After a “small” crowd of 50 people did their vile, embarrassing, insulting, and damaging stunt with an animal head in from of state government office, the police and Home Minister have provided some input. While the police said the probe was completed and case files to be submitted to AG office today, there need to be an inquiry on why the incident was allowed to take place in the first place since the police gave rather innovative reasons – situation was not permitting and that a junior officer was in charge. Granted the district police chief was forced to apologise for the inaction, but still need to review to avoid future problems. I mean, people are asking – why is this particular protest handled differently from others? What’s so unique about it? Is it due to the fasting month? Is it due to the participants? Is it due to the large crowd and lack of officers? Wasn’t there a worry of the later impact of the protest even though the immediate situation on the ground was controlled (protest was allowed for 15 minutes or so).

Did the probe also cover (i) the statements by the protest leader that his protest was hijacked (what a lousy leader! I won’t want him to represent me after this, if I was a resident in Section 23 – small protest also cannot handle, how to face the state government?), (ii) the source and the owner of the animal head, (iii) identification of the culprits based on the video clip freely available on the Internet?, (v) the hate-inciting and religion-insulting banners/words uttered, and (v) the persons behind the scene who instigated or planned for the s0-called hijack? I hope so because IGP said 60 people were interviewed within 3 days and the persons involved have been identified.

Our esteemed Home Minister have also provided his valuable thoughts after issuing warning action against actions that can be detrimental to national security (I take it as meaning if someone protests against the cow head protestors?):

“We need to look at the angle where a temple is going to be moved there, so we need to go across the political ideology. The relocation could be offensive to anyone.

Hmm…I guess we should only consider that angle. Non-relocation also offensive to “anyone”. So, why no just demolish and pretend nothing happened? Can ask a certain ex-MB for advice and contacts – he’s experienced in ordering demolition of temple.

Home Minister Hishamuddin also met some of the residents at Putrajaya. He tried his best to rationalise the action of the protestors, which is kind of unexpected for a person who is supposed to be in charge of internal security. Probably wanted to show a softer approach to this problem. Among the interesting arguments put forth by the minister:

he said the protesters “had no intention at all to bring the cow’s head and invoke racial sentiments or cause tension”.

“They are not going (to be let off) scot-free. But they just feel victimised because they feel there is another valid explanation and had no intention to cause racial (divisions),” he said. [don’t we all feel victimised. So, means can carry some head or another to voice our dissatisfaction? how about wearing certain color shirts? No? Only cow head allowed? Need clarification here.]

… Hishammuddin said he was told that the “residents did not know the organisers and did not know a cow’s head would be brought during the demonstration”. [I thought the organiser also attended this meeting? Or is the organiser an outsider, a non-resident?]

“When we sat and discussed this, they (said they) realised that they were in a situation they could not control.” [sesal dahulu pendapatan, sesal kemudian tak berguna – have heard of this proverb?Doesn’t apply here?]

He further defended the protesters, saying that “they just wanted their voices to be heard”.

“However it was unfortunate that the protest was given negative publicity because it was linked to religious and racial sentiments,” he said. [Err…isn’t that the whole point? So, we must give it positive publicity? If want to voice out also, use the brain a bit la. Very clear even for small kids, that this is not voicing out, but provocation.]

… The minister noted that the residents have since taken “a pro-active” measure by meeting with members of the Hindu Sanggam two days ago, and that both sides will hold another meeting tomorrow.“So if it can be resolved quickly and both sides understand each other, why (should) they be penalised?” said Hishammuddin. [Ahh..so if you do something and later do something else to negate the first action, then it should be alright. I like thisword pro-active. Maybe the residents should have approached MHS BEFORE allowing outsider to organise the protest, siap dengan banner pulak!That would be super pro-active. Can win prize for best RA.]

Although the protestors reportedly did not have a permit the minister said “the protest was not big and they (organisers) were very respectful of the Selangor sultan” [Hmm…two criterias outlined for protests in Selangor. Is this written somewhere or just use common sense? ].“They even limited the number of people from the committee to only 10. In fact if they wanted to have a bigger protest they could have, but they were conscious (of the impact).“All they wanted to do was to voice their unhappiness and the unwillingness of the state government to consider their request.” [so, this is the way to voice out. Lesson to be learnt here?]

Hishammuddin said the Selangor government made a poor decision in relocating the temple to a predominantly Malay area.“Even the Hindus are not passionate about the relocation of the temple to the area,” he claimed. [The minister should have elaborated which Hindus are not passionate on the relocation – MHS, Section 19 residents, Section 23 residents, or some MIC people. There should have been some statistical data, backed by the complete case study and survey forms /AV recordings of the interviews. Then it would carry more weight. And surely, can provide sugggestion for alternative location? Shah Alam has about 30-odd sections only].

Asked why the police had not acted when the cow’s head was brought in, he claimed that action had been taken.“I was monitoring it myself and reporting it to the prime minister,” he said. Commenting on the upcoming dialoguebetween the Shah Alam Municipal Council and the residents to be held on Saturday, Hishammuddin said this comes “a little too late”.“The residents had met the state representatives before. If they (the representatives had) resolved it then, there wouldn’t need to be a protest (in the first place),” he said. [So, this is not considered pro-active after residents said they are unhappy? The meeting was already being arranged, but the protest still went ahead. Why?]

On a personal note, Hishammuddin felt the protest “in this day and age should be accepted in this world, as the people want their voices to be heard”.“If we don’t give them room to voice their opinions, they have no choice but to protest. (But) regardless of the action they take, they have to adhere to the laws of the country. So they have to be responsible,” he said. [Motivation talk to protest responsibly.]

Hmm… I wonder if HINDRAF /candle vigil/”wear black” protestors can borrow him to argue their case. The reasons seems applicable to them as well.

The resident association also met with MHS earlier, and will be meeting them again to issue some sort of statement – damage control I guess. For the greater good.

Anyway, I guess we know the outcome. Anyone willing to bet a prosecution to take place?

Well, I guess we all saw it coming. When the cracks started to appear way back in 2008, one can sense that Kayveas will win.

Malaysiakini carried the news on Monday that report from ROS that refused to recognise Murugiah’s so-called Emergency General Meeting on May 24, and that the report has been handed over to Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein. This matter was discussed in the BN supreme council attended by PPP party president M Kayveas and his two vice-presidents Maglin D’Cruz and Lee Heng .

Today, the Home Minister made the revelation of the ROS report, adding that the legal officer of the Home Ministry was also consulted in order to be sure. According to him, ROS had affirmed that (i) Kayveas is the rightful president of PPP, (ii) the election of Murugiah during an extraordinary general meeting, called by his supporters, was invalid, (iii) Murugiah’s sacking, along with six of his supporters, from the party by the party disciplinary committee was valid and in accordance with the party constitution.

Based on the information and investigation results, Murugiah does not have the ‘locus’ to act as the party’s president or use the party platform to perform any activities related to PPP.

“The party is advised to take action against him (Murugiah) if he continues to use the party’s name,” said Hishammuddin.

However, ROS also reported that Murugiah’s complaints had its merit, namely: (i) the party had not tabled its financial records at its annual general meeting between 2003 and 2007 (violation of Section 14(1) of the Societies Act 1996), (ii) changes to the original PPP logo, (iii) holding an AGM after a June 7, 2009 deadline and (iv) electing supreme council members a year too early.

As such, the ROS issued the PPP a showcause letter to explain itself. Should the explanation be unsatisfactory, the party could be de-registered under the Societies Act. The party has 30 days to respond.

Hishammuddin said he had personally spoken to Kayveas and Murugiah on Monday and Tuesday respectively to inform them of the decision and they had both accepted the decision….

“At the end of the day what I would like is for them (Kayveas and Murugiah) to find a solution that ensures that the party and its members do not suffer,” Hishammuddin said.

“This a legal solution but at the end of the day a political answer needs to be found for the personalities and leaders within the party,” he told a press conference after chairing his ministry’s post-cabinet meeting here on Wednesday.

Most importantly, he also clarified that the position of Murugiah in the cabinet is not affected by the ROS report as his Deputy Minister post was appointed by PM Najib. Anyway, its a foregone conclusion that Murugiah has to let go of his positions in the government, and PPP will submit another name to replace him, provided there’s no legal suits or PPP being de-registered.

Bye bye Murugiah. At least till you join another party or make a comeback in PPP at the next elections.